The Alternative for Germany (AfD) has achieved a historic milestone by winning its first state election in Saxony-Anhalt, securing 43.8% of the vote and 39 of the state parliament's 83 seats. According to reports from Business Standard, this represents the party's strongest performance in a German state election and more than twice its 2021 result. However, the AfD remains three seats short of the 42 needed for an outright majority, with Chancellor Friedrich Merz's Christian Democratic Union (CDU) finishing a distant second at 17.2% of the vote. The election saw 78% turnout, the highest recorded in Saxony-Anhalt since German reunification in 1990, a state of 2.1 million people. As reported by The Guardian, the AfD received 576,037 second votes in a state with 1.71 million eligible voters, representing roughly 1% of Germany's 59.2 million strong electorate. The victory has been described by Der Spiegel as a magnitude 9.0 "political earthquake" - the biggest far-right victory in a state election since the Nazi period.
Germany's leader expressed deep concern following the election results, stating he was "deeply shocked" after the vote put the AfD on the brink of forming the country's first far-right state government since World War II. As reported by Business Standard, the result puts Germany's political firewall against the far right under unprecedented pressure. The AfD cannot form a government on its own, as Germany's mainstream parties have ruled out working with the party, leaving it without an obvious route to power. The New York Times has framed this as a test of a decades-old German strategy for keeping extremists away from power. The question now becomes whether mainstream parties' refusal to work with the AfD can remain politically sustainable as the party becomes larger and more deeply rooted in the electorate. According to CBC News, AfD Saxony-Anhalt chairman Martin Reichardt stated that "yesterday marked a turning point not only in Saxony-Anhalt, but throughout Germany," while party leader Alice Weidel expressed pride in their team's achievement. The CDU, SPD and Greens hold only 31 seats together, rendering a majority against the AfD impossible without support from the Left Party or the BSW, but the CDU's refusal to cooperate with either party complicates the picture and could lead to a prolonged impasse.
According to reports from Business Standard, the AfD started as a eurosceptic party opposed to the euro and European debt crisis management, but its focus shifted significantly from around 2014. The turning point came in 2015 when Germany took in large numbers of refugees and migrants, many fleeing the war in Syria. Chancellor Angela Merkel's decision to allow large numbers of refugees triggered fierce political debate, and the AfD tapped into this anger over immigration policy. In the 2025 federal election, the AfD secured 20.8% of the vote, making it the second-largest party in parliament, up from 10.4% in 2021. The party is now classified as a 'confirmed right-wing extremist' organisation by Germany's Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution. As reported by CBC News, the AfD also leads national opinion polls at 27% according to German election research company Infratest-Dimap, and secured the second-highest number of seats in the 2025 federal election. According to The Guardian, the AfD's electorate has shifted from a passive protest vote to active support, with 36% of voters trusting the AfD most to solve the state's problems in July, compared with just 9% before the 2021 election, and 44% preferring an AfD-led government. AfD co-leader Alice Weidel has stated that her party is targeting a 40% result at the next general election scheduled for 2029, currently polling in first place at 28%.
The victory has drawn international attention, with Elon Musk congratulating the AfD on social media and Trump posting preliminary election results to his Truth Social page. According to CBC News, AfD politicians in Saxony-Anhalt have praised U.S. President Donald Trump as a source of inspiration, using the catchphrase "Make Saxony-Anhalt Great Again" on the campaign trail. Kirill Dmitriev, CEO of Russia's sovereign wealth fund and considered a longtime ally of Russian President Vladimir Putin, praised the AfD on social media, writing that "AfD will restore Germany and Europe by leading the common-sense approach that migrant-friendly, warmongering Biden-think EU politicians tried to eradicate." The AfD is pitching major overhauls to Germany's current policy toward Russia and has reportedly praised and visited the country, with the party's Saxony-Anhalt manifesto stating strong interest in good relations with Russia both "economically and culturally." However, as reported by The Guardian, an AfD-led state government would amplify the party's calls for an end to sanctions on Russia and military support for Ukraine, but foreign policy remains a federal responsibility and the Land's four votes would offer only limited scope for obstruction.
The win represents an unprecedented blow to the established political system in Germany, according to Marcus Böick, a University of Cambridge professor who studies modern German history. As reported by CBC News, voters in rural areas, many in Saxony-Anhalt, feel neglected by so-called elites in Berlin, with this regional vote serving as a form of protest. Saxony-Anhalt experienced a substantial decline since reunification to around 2.12 million inhabitants today, with the state having been hit by industrial restructuring and high energy costs affecting the chemical industry. The chemical industry is central to the region's socioeconomic identity, but high energy costs and weak demand have heightened pressure on the sector. Pharmaceutical giant Bayer is one of the last major employers in a region whose unemployment rate stood at 8.2% in August 2026, compared with 6.5% nationally. Corporate insolvency filings rose by 23.9% in the state in 2025, more than twice the national increase of 10.3%. The state has also been hit by depopulation, leaving many smaller communities ageing and struggling to sustain local services. The figures on migration present a paradox, with Saxony-Anhalt having a comparatively low foreign-national share of approximately 7.9% of the population at the end of 2025, compared with around 14.9% nationally, yet migration consistently topped voters' concerns for over a decade. Energy prices, stoked by inflation and the Iran war, have hit voters hard in Saxony-Anhalt, Germany's poorest state, with cost of living issues appearing to far outweigh immigration as a mobilising issue.
